Good morning. It's good to be back with you again this morning. I was kind of humbled that Greg asked me to come back again from last week. Thank you all for allowing me to be with you. I'd like to continue in our quest in Ephesus. So if you all will turn in your Bibles to Ephesians in chapter 2. I would like us to continue to look at what the Apostle Paul had to deal with at his point in time in history. Ephesus had become a major hub. It was founded in about the 10th century BC, and it was collapsed in about the 15th, not too long after Christ had come. Paul was in the 1st century, and then Ephesus collapsed not too far beyond that. And Edward Gibbon, who had written The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, has attributed the fall of Rome to Christianity. Will Durant, who was a philosopher and historian, also attributed the fall of Rome to Christianity. Most secularists don't like that. I think we should. We see what the power of the gospel does in culture. And there was a volume written by Durant called Christ and Caesar and his impact on the government. And as Greg prayed, I pray that we will be with our president, because rulers, as Romans 13 says, are appointed by God. And we need to understand the respect of the office of president. As we talked about last week, I wish we understood what it is to be under the servitude of a king. But we really don't. In our nature, we are rebellious. And we can, in some parts of the scriptures, kind of give a justification for the American Civil War and for war. American Revolution, that can be found in 2 Corinthians, or 2 Chronicles, rather, chapter 10. And when Solomon, his son, Rehoboam, is approached by the elders to say, you need to let your people be eased of your burdens. And Rehoboam says, no, I'll make my pinky heavier than my father's burdens. Okay, well, we're going to wipe our hands with you. And that's exactly what America did with King Edward. Is that right? Was that Edward? No, George. King George said, No, we're gonna we're gonna serve Jesus instead. But let's look at Ephesians in chapter two. And we're going to talk less as we talked about last week, a little bit on the bouquet of flowers of the order of salvation, and what God does for us, and what we we do in our own salvation. As the scripture says, we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. So let us read what the Spirit says to the churches. And you who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing, not of works. It is a gift of God, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God foreordained before the foundation of the world, that we should walk in them. Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made by the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in the world. But now in Christ, you who were once far off have been brought nigh by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall or the middle wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two. Therefore, and thus making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him, we both have access in one spirit to the father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. but on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word and that manna which comes down from heaven to feed our spirits. We thank You for the physical food that we have, Lord, but now we ask that You will spiritually feed us from your word and that you will speak, Lord, and forgive your servant of his sins, because they are many. And I pray that you will just speak, and we hear what the Spirit has to say to the churches, and that you will be glorified in all that we do, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, as we see, you were dead in trespasses and sins. We started last week reading Ephesians chapter 1. We went through the whole thing. Now, this is by all means just scratching the surface of the depth and the enormity of the Ephesian letter. Now, Ephesus had become a colossal hub as philosophy, and we see that in Acts chapter 17 with Paul being in Athens, though they're on two separate continents. Ephesus is over here in Asia Minor, Athens is over here in Greece. They basically have the same sort of philosophy. The Temple of Artemis was one of the world's wonders of the ancient world, and now it's just a pile of rubble. And just like we see in all the historical countries, Lost my train of thought. Generations of cultures. Rome, Greece, Persia, Ephesus. All of these are nothing but Bible work. And all these temples of idolatry. Artemis, Diana, same goddess. And you see in Acts where Paul came in preaching. And this little girl says, these are sons of the Most High. And people started following them and stopped listening to Diana. And now that temple has been left. I think we ought to listen to they were dead in trespasses and sins. Paul comes preaching life as John did in the wilderness, preaching the baptism of repentance. You being dead in your trespasses and sins, which you once walked, all of us did, according to the course of this world. following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience and how much did we see that today in our blatant culture of arrogance disrespect and utter futility in their minds and Roman says that we've been given up and God says well you all want to go sin have at it and now I think we're seeing the repercussions of that in our own society folks my age have no idea what it's like to work hard And the one behind me, the generation behind me is even much worse. Most of them are stuck right here. We exercise our thumbs more so than we exercise our minds. And if he says that we are futile in our thinking, working in the sons of disobedience, we once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Isaiah and Romans both say we have a problem. Isaiah says the whole head is sick. We need a fix. In chapter 7, verse 14, Emmanuel, God with us, will come. Romans chapter 3 says we have a problem in thought, word, and deed. And that's what he just says here in Ephesians as well. And we've talked about this letter being a letter to the churches at large, and not just specifically to Ephesians, or to those at Ephesus, but to us as well. And as we continue in chapter 2, verse 11 and following gives us five disadvantages of Gentiles. Well, that's us. But we are brought nigh by the blood of the cross. And, which we saw in our bulletin this morning, the assurance of pardon, in Him, in Christ, we have redemption through His blood, forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace. And also in your bulletin you have your question from the Catechism. How does the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ? Answer, the Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ. by working faith in us and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling. When God calls, we can't but answer. If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to me. Either I'm going to soften their hearts or I'm going to harden their hearts. And that's something we have to deal with. A wise man told me recently that I ought to work like it's all up to me. Believe like it's all up to God. And in that one sentence, that beautifully reconciled my free will, my responsibility, and God's utter sovereignty. God's not going to work physically for me. I have to have a job. I have to work. Now, what do I do in salvation? I have to repent of my sins and believe in Jesus. Faith and repentance. That's how we do it. The cross. We have nothing else that we can stand on. In Him, we have redemption. And I hope that you all, I didn't pay attention last week, but I hope that you all do have catechism questions every week. And you have the catechism in your hymnals. We've got the same hymnal at Eastern Heights. And we also have the Confession of Faith. Now, we don't stand that the Confession of Faith is any higher than Scripture. At all. Because the Bible is the Word of God, not the Westminster Confession of Faith. But this is probably the greatest document that man has ever produced. And you have it right here in the back of your hymnal. And as you go through your hymns, read the theology. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. John Newton was a slave trader. That's pretty tough. He bought and sold people like cows. Amazing grace that saved a wretch like him saves a wretch like me. And you played some awesome hymns this morning. Thank you. She walked down the aisle to be without my vision. And when we think about what our hymn writers were thinking. Where did they get their theology? Their thinking has to come from the Word of God. We must be fashioned by what God says, not by what man says. That was Paul's argument in Acts 17 at Areopolis. When he's saying, you are, he quoted one of their poets. We are the children, the offspring of God. But let me tell you about this one who you have, the idol that says to the unknown God, let me tell you about him. The one who made heavens and earth. And as we confess this morning, Greg said in prayer, one faith, one baptism. We do confess. We do confess one Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God in three persons. I would really love to understand that. One God who distinctly manifests Himself in three different personalities. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. The Father willingly gives His Son, but the Son willingly subjects Himself to the Father. And the Spirit subjects Himself willingly to the Son and the Father. I wish that I could wrap my pea brain around that. But Deuteronomy 29 says that the mysteries of God belong to Him, that which is revealed belongs to me, to us. And it says that, and Proverbs tells you that it's the glory of God to conceal a matter, it's the honor of kings to search it out. We are now prophets, priests, and kings through Jesus Christ because of the work on the cross. So we have the ability, and Paul told Timothy, to study to show himself a proof to God, not to man. I don't care how many initials I will eventually have behind my name, it means nothing if I'm not doing it for the glory of Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter one bit. Colossians 3.23 says, do everything to the glory of God. Whether you eat or whether you drink, whatever you do, do it to the glory of Christ. And Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Him who gives me the strength to do so. I was dead in trespasses and sins. It's kind of neat how Paul uses his conjunctions. In verse number one, in the Greek it is a participle, not meaning that it was a past tense. You are dead. You are in a state of being dead. And we understand what death is about. My first funeral I preached was for a grandmother of mine. One of the hardest things that I've ever done aside from my parents being on a witness stand in court. The hardest thing I've ever done, I believe, was preach a funeral for a grandmother figure. And when we are confronted with our own demise. And last week as I talked about how do we really deal with Jesus? How do we handle Him? We are dead in trespasses and sins and can't do anything about it. We first have to be called. God has to work within us. How does the Spirit apply to us redemption purchased by Christ? He applies it to us. He applies the redemption purchased by Christ by working the faith in us. Ephesians 2 verse 8. For by grace you have been saved through your faith. And this is not of your own doing. It's the gift of God. God turns us around and gives us the ability to believe in Him. And to have faith in the One that worked. And the One that applies the things to our hearts. And just think about how many are being able to hear this right now. Not just in here. Mentioning last week, Revelation 4 and 5, that we are in the presence of Almighty God, His angels and the saints, past and present. Worshipping with all those people. I am worshipping with my grandparents right now who are already in glory. That's a humbling thing. And to think that one day I'll be with them again. thankful to Jesus Christ. Because if I continued in my own ways like I used to do, I would still be dead in my trespasses and sins. And as our pastor says, there's no way that I can just pull myself up by my own bootstraps. I would love to see somebody get out of a casket on the run. And that is the state that we are in spiritually. In the day you eat thereof, Adam, you will die. Thus we all die. All died in one man, but in one man, all are made alive. I hope that's where we put our faith this morning. And there's a little group in Bristol called Faith in Action. I don't really know all that they do, but the title is very fitting. Faith in Action. What do we do? We repent, we believe. And James says that I will show you what I believe by how I live and what I do. Martin Luther had a hard time with that because he came out of the Catholic Church. thinking with righteousness and worth justification. But that's not what James is saying. I will show you my faith by how I live out in the world. What am I doing with myself? How am I conducting my own business? How am I running my farm? How am I running my family? How am I doing these things apart from the world? I can't take myself out of it. Jesus prayed in John 17, I pray that you don't take these out of the world, Lord, but that you will be with them. that they may be where I am one day. And that you will leave them here and give them the power to live. Be not of the world, but be in it. And that's what Paul is exactly talking about right here in Ephesians chapter 2. Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out all the things that we want to do in mind and body, without regard to God, and were by nature By nature, children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. We've got to have heart change. The gospel affects the very heart of us. It's not about health and wealth and prosperity. You are dead in sins. You need a remedy. You are sinner in thought, word and deed. That needs to be changed. How is that changed? The work of Christ. That's applied to us by the work of the Holy Spirit within us. That's the unction of the Spirit. that He will give us the ability not to sin so much. And I pray that I don't sin as much today as I did yesterday. And I think it's a grace to be able to see the dirt in my life, that I can see what needs to be changed. Because pre-Jesus, I never saw the dirt. I lived in it. Wallowed in it. But as Psalm 40 says, He brings me out of the latrine and set me upon the solid rock of salvation and of the Word. But God. Last week we talked about the power of salutation. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. The next powerful words, but God. You are dead, but God. You can't do anything, but God. And in Luke chapter 2, I believe he came to Mary and said, with all things God are possible. She said, I don't know a man. How am I going to have a child? The Holy Spirit will come upon you. In just a few lines previous, Gabriel went to Elizabeth and Zacharias. How am I going to have a child in my old age? I think we've seen this somewhere before. Abraham and Sarah. I think we saw this somewhere before. How can I do this in my old age? With all things, God makes it possible. Nothing is too hard for God. Remind me not to preach from an iPad next time. That's why I don't use it as much. And He raised us with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ. Last week we talked about the blessings of the Holy Spirit. The gift is Jesus Himself. And as He prayed in John 17, that we will be where He is. That's the victory. That's the prize, to see Jesus. All this stuff is going to burn up. We will have a new heavens and a new earth, but we will see Him as He is. And I think that we're going to have a new body. How is it that Thomas knew who Jesus was? The two on the road to Emmaus, how did they know who Jesus was? Probably when he broke bread and they saw the scars. Jesus is physically in a body in heaven. A glorified body. What properties it has, I don't know. He may be able to walk through walls. Who knows? because He appeared to those in the upper room. But we will see the nail-scarred hands, the riven side that took our sin, and the one that gives us life, the one that breathed life into our mortal bodies in the garden, breathed life into our spirit, that we may see Him as He is. I want to see Jesus. I'm tired of sinning and hurting every day. And I'm only 32. I'm ready to see Jesus, but not yet. And as Dr. Blevins says, I think the kingdom is now and not yet. We have a very optimistic way of looking at things. Jesus reigns today. He changed us. He changed our hearts. If He can change me, He can change anybody. And I'm stubborn. I'm 10 feet tall and I'm bulletproof. Until God got a hold of me. I was dead in my sins and now I'm alive. And now I can't but preach and speak the Word. Isaiah said, or was it Ezekiel, says, Woe unto me, I can't do anything but preach, because that Word was shoved in me like a fire. And that same Word, as Ezekiel says, was preached and dry bones came to life. We are those dusty dry bones. That's Paul's contention in Ephesus. Look at who you are. And this city grew to about 225,000 folks in this port city. You can imagine the hustle and bustle that was going on in this cosmopolitan area just like Corinth. Corinth was Las Vegas of the area. Ephesus was not too far behind. Kind of like New York. That's how we can parallel them. If we cannot apply the historical principles of when Paul was writing, we can never understand what it means today. If we don't understand the same situations, and as Solomon said, nothing there is new under the sun. Not one thing. All that's happened before is going to happen again. That which is going on now, we've already seen. They just get rehashed with new language. Even when we were dead in our trespasses, He made us alive together with Christ. And He reiterates for the first time, by grace you've been saved. Repeating again in verse 8. Raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in heavenly places. where Christ is sitting on the right hand, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness toward us. What a puny people we really are, but God stoops Himself down and brings us up. The God of all creation who makes worlds is concerned for our well-being. Enough that He would send His own Son to die on the cross. Is that not why we have John 3.16? For God thus loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but will live and have everlasting life. And as we talk about our salvation, our bouquet of flowers, what is it that we do, and what is it that God does? And I just have it. God calls us, outer and effectual, Westminster Confession chapter 10, all those whom God has predestined to life and those He has pleased in His appointed and accepted time, effectually calls, by His Word and Spirit. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing comes from the Word of God. If we want to understand why the Westminster Confession was put together in the 1600s, Parliament of all people, British Parliament, came and said, what does the Bible say? Can you systematize it for us? Because the Bible is not systematic theology. Systematic theology is how we have tried to put together what the Bible really teaches. By His Word and His Spirit, He calls us out of the state of sin and death, that's Ephesians chapter 2 and chapter 1, in which they are by nature to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ, enlightening their minds. spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, because we can't understand God. Romans 8 says, indeed, we cannot understand anything spiritually. And that's why Ephesians 2 says, you were dead in sins. But God, who is rich in mercy, awakens your mind and brings you to life. Enlightening their minds. Taking away the heart of stone, is that not Ezekiel 36? I will take out that heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And you wonder why we sprinkle? Not just because we don't want to get wet. Aaron was poured and the oil saturated his beard and his robes and his garments. That's the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. We baptize by sprinkling because it says we splatter and sprinkle the altar with blood. We see the same parallel from the Old Testament that we do in the New. We have to understand the Old to get the New. We have to understand exactly what Jesus did. Everything that He did fulfilled every jot and tittle of the Old Covenant. Sprinkling their hearts. and I will give them a new nature." That's Ezekiel 36. Taking away the heart of stone, giving unto them a heart of flesh, renewing their wills, if any man wills to do My will, that's John 15, and by His almighty power, determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ. Yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing, by His grace. And this is what the Westminster Divines in 1647 preached in British Parliament. Ought we not go to Washington and do the same thing? This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man, who is altogether passive therein, until Being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, He is thereby enabled to answer this call and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed therein. It's all Jesus. The whole book is about Him. If we could understand that one concept about the Bible, the whole book is about Him. From Genesis unto Revelation, it's about Jesus. We should understand that. Genesis 3.15, I will crush the head of the serpent. That's how we did it. His heel will be bruised. Well, he was nailed to the cross. And he's got nail scars probably right here. Medically, if you put a nail, what's going to happen if you put it in your hand? The nail's going to rip right out. His scars are here. And I would guarantee that on the road to Emmaus, when he broke bread with them, the bread of life, breaking physical bread with his disciples, in one Catholic tradition is that it was St. Luke, because he recorded it in Acts. and then another apostle or disciple read it. He broke bread. We should see these same scars. And that's how we ought to live our lives. In light of this and the effectual calling that we don't have a thing to do with it, God chooses. Now, when He works within you, you are the one that repents of your sin, understanding we are sinners and we believe the gospel. And this is a faithful and just saying, 1 Timothy 1.15, that Jesus came to die for sinners. And Paul says, of whom I am chief. And I think every one of us can probably say, I am the chief of sinners. If we really look in the mirror to see what we do and who we are. And I am no better than anybody else. I am a sinner saved by grace needing the same bread that you all do. I want to come to the table right now because I need Jesus more and more every single minute of every day. If I don't, I'm dead. As Paul says, I am dead. I cannot reject such a great salvation. And Jesus calls, woos us to Him. And is it not humbling that we are the ones who call and come willingly from that call? Instead of being hardened, like Pharaoh. I don't know what was in Hitler's heart. We can see what he did. But I don't know what's in his heart. I wonder, when Jesus came to him, if his heart was hardened. Like Pharaohs was. I pity folks like Hitler. Because of the wrath that they are under. And I should be under the same thing. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of everybody else and of all the people in prison, He chose me. And brought me out of that. Changed my nature. Changed my heart. And set me upon a solid rock of His Word. And His Spirit has He given to me and to you. And as the psalm said this morning, Psalm 100, ought we not praise the Lord in the sanctuary? Ought we not lift holy hands and praise Him? An understanding of who God really is. Oh God, have mercy on us. Not like the Pharisee. Lord, I'm glad I'm not like this man. But the sinner says, oh God, please have mercy on me. Thank You for saving a wretch like me. And Philip Bliss, who wrote, It Is Well With My Soul, the things that he went through, lost his daughter and his wife in a shipwreck and said, It is well with my soul. When peace like a river attends my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, you have taught me to say, It is well with my soul. Though Satan should buffet, And things come my way, and trials will come. Let this blessed assurance control. But Christ has regarded my helpless estate and shed His own blood for my soul." Those are our hymns. That's what we sing. Is that your hymn today? Is that your theme song? And Colossians says we speak to one another in songs, in hymns, in spiritual songs. Do we speak to one another that way? Are we emulating Christ? Are we living in our renewed state? If we really are new creations, as Corinthians says, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, no matter what age you are, you are a new creation. Old things have passed away. All have become new. And when the Bible says all, it really means all. Not just a few. Romans 8, 28. All things work together for good to them who love God. And that is one thing we stand on in sanctification. All things work together for good. No matter what it is. No matter how bad the situation, it is sanctifying my soul. And one day I will be made to look like Jesus. The whole purpose of being predestined is to look like Him anyway. He chose me to look like Jesus. And that humbles the fool out of me. Because I know who I am. But he wants me to look like Jesus. And has covered me with the blood of Christ. And that's not being preached much. But that's the truth. That's the gospel. That Jesus died to save us from our sins. And our worst enemies are ourselves. We have an adversary who is like a roaring lion. But he's just like one. Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah, as described in Revelation. Satan tries to mimic it. Martin Luther calls Satan God's little ape, because he tries to imitate everything that God does. And you wonder where evolution came from. We're supposed to be a monkey? Huh. I think Luther got that right in 1500s. Little ape. Hmm. We are made in the image of God. Let's look like it. Let's look like it and live like it. Smell, taste, act and be like Jesus. Because we do have a lost and dying world outside. How many people are not in church today? In this little community? And how many churches do we pass from Grand Home Furnishings up here? How many churches did I pass from Holston Valley up here? And how many people are in the parking lot? We need to pray that God will send revival and wake us up. That we will turn from our wicked ways. Is that not 2nd Chronicles chapter 7 verse 14? If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and heal their land. I think I read that. If my people, us, We'll humble ourselves before a holy God and pray and seek His face. He says He will heal our land. On Memorial Day weekend, we sang, Oh Beautiful. Is that what we sang for the anthem? We all know America the Beautiful, the first verses, but I have not really considered the rest of the verses. They're about Jesus and about His kingdom. And they say, God, my rock. In America, they're beautiful. Though America does not have a covenant with Jesus. They wanted to. That's why they wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights the way they did. But we don't have a covenant with God like Israel. But we are Israel. By faith, we are the seed of Abraham. We are one with the Jew. And that's why Ephesians chapter 2 says, Through his blood that wall of hostility is broken down. What is that wall of hostility? There is a wall. If you take a look at the pulpit, we can consider this to be the Holy of Holies, and this to be the Outer Sanctum. There is a wall right here, and on the inscription it says, anyone beyond this point that's with outside is suffering death. So Gentiles who walked into that place suffered death. No one could come to the Holiest of Holies. And only the priest can do it one time a year, on Passover. Jesus broke that down. And he ripped the veil from top to bottom. That's about a hundred foot veil. How loud do you think that was in the temple? And the thing was about that thick. God ripped it from top to bottom through the blood of Christ. And brought us together. Making one man, one Jew, one Gentile together. Now there is no distinction. We are the seed of Abraham by faith. Where do you put your faith? What is your biblical theology? A sound theology will give you a sound life. And I'm learning to understand that a man that's got a Bible that's tearing apart probably has a life that's put together. I've seen many a man, and Dr. Blevins carries a 1901 American Standard Bible and it's falling apart. But the man's life is put together. I want to be that man. I want to look like Jesus from now on so that my children know what the truth is. Not what they think it is. Because today they say there is no absolute truth. 2 and 2 can be 6 if you wanted to. It doesn't matter how you get there. If that's the case, we've got a real problem with how we build bridges. I'm not driving over somebody's bridge whose 2 and 2 is 6. Or 4.3. I don't do math very well, but 2 and 2 is 4, I thought. There are absolute truths. If two and two is four, that means there is a lawgiver because that's a law. When Jesus reconciled all things to himself and abolished the sacrificial law, the ceremonial law, did he abolish the moral law? Are we still allowed to go kill still? Take our neighbor's wife? Take his donkey? Hate him? I think not. That's why we have Matthew chapter 5. The Beatitudes, this is what the law should have produced. Your good works. That's why James says what he does. Echoing what Paul talks about in Ephesians chapter 2. Now I know there's a whole lot of stuff with that. But that's what we need. And we need to be worn out by the word of God. Others not elected, although they may be called by the ministry of the Word, may have some common operations of the Spirit, yet they never truly come to Christ. You've got four seeds, don't you? Some are sown by the wayside, they spring up real quick, and then the sun comes out, persecution comes, and there they go. You've got some who are sown on the stones, and Satan comes and quickly plucks it out, rejecting the Word right offhand. Three, you've got some who are sown and they look like Christians for 20, 30, 40, and even 50 years. Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? Have we not done many miracles and many wonders in your name? Depart from me, I never knew you. You workers of iniquity. But the fourth seed. is that which was affectionately called. By no means will I lose any of these, John chapter 6. All those the Father has given me, I will by no means lose any of them. That seed grows, and it becomes like the tree, like the mustard seed. And then it has enough room for all the birds of the air to feast and to roost. Which seed are you? That's why when we come to the table, we have 1 Corinthians 11, let each man examine himself to see what's in his heart. I don't want to show up today and say, Lord, Lord, have I not preached in your name? Have I not given people all that I had? Have I not done this and done that and so on and so forth in your name? And him say, I never knew you. I better look at my heart. And I've got to preach to myself first before I can ever preach to anybody else. And apply it to me. Or I am nothing more than a Pharisee and a hypocrite. What do I look like when I go outside? I am dead in trespasses and sins, but God who is rich in mercy gives me the life to live. Gives me the spirit that I may go out and speak and live. Because I very well may be the only Bible somebody ever reads. Ever reads. What am I going to do tomorrow morning? when the phone rings and the world begins and the stuff hits the fan. What are you going to do? Are we going to remember that He that brought us from death into life and brought us into His marvelous light? Are we not going to be those salt shakers and light fixtures? I think I mentioned that advertisement shirt last week. A fellow that came through the cavern had a salt shaker and a light bulb on his t-shirt. Best advertisement I've ever seen. Be these. You can't when you're dead. But you can now. And we come here to feast upon the heavenly manna. So that we have the power and the strength and the nourishment to go out tomorrow. And Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday and come back on Sunday to be refilled. That's why we need to have the table every Sunday. So that we feast upon Jesus and that we look so much like Him that nobody can tell me from Jesus. I don't want people to look at me. They need to see Jesus. I'll be gone in 50 years. Or however long it is. I don't know how long I have. But my life will be just a breath. Jesus remains. What will my children see in 20 years? I fear that our country might not even be here. What are they going to go through? Where is Jesus in your life? Let's not get hung up on our theology. Let's use it. Because theology determines how you live your life. How you view God, how you view sin, how you view the Bible is going to determine how you live your life tomorrow. Are we going to forget it when we go have lunch this afternoon? As soon as we walk out the door? Or are we going to contemplate who Jesus is? What He's done? And what He means to us? and how we really handled that, as 1 John says. That which we've seen with our eyes, we've heard with our ears. We've beheld His glory. He saw Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration with the glory that He had. That the flesh was concealing. And He handled it. A dumb fisherman was called to be an apostle. And John lived in Ephesus until he died. The last three letters that he had written, he was in Ephesus. And by the time the city of Ephesus had fallen, I think the statistic was that 85% of the city had been converted to Christianity. That's remarkable. By the end of the 2nd century, there were over 500,000 Christians known in the ancient world. Are we sitting idly by or are we going to really live for Jesus today? And feast on that heavenly manna that comes down for us? I am just a beggar showing you where to go to get bread. Because that bread came to me. The bread, the light, the Good Shepherd, the door. Are we really looking for Jesus? Don't let Him just pass you by. Let's live it. And know that we can because He's given us the Spirit. We have all these blessings of heavenly places because we have the Holy Spirit living within us as the temple. So take care of this. It's rather important. Because this is what we're going to live in. It's going to be renewed, but it's what we're going to have. We don't get another one. You might want to take care of it. From now on. If I knew I was going to live this long, I would have taken a whole lot better care of myself. So I'm going to, from the rest of my life, take better care of my temple. And so that somebody can see Jesus in me. No matter where I go, what I do, and what I say. And I pray that you all will do the same. And that one day we will see these pews filled yet again with folks coming to hear the Word of God. Not putting money in somebody's pocket. But coming to get the Word of God. and changing a culture. Because those who are under the sound and under the voice of the God of the air, who is Satan, are by nature at enmity with God. But praise be to God Most High that He's given us the grace that we don't suffer that wrath anymore because of that. So let us go, therefore, As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him." Colossians 2. And I mention Colossians so many times in this message, working through Ephesians, because the two are very well paralleled together. There are so many similarities. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon were probably written between two weeks of one another. Paul was in prison, in Rome, when he wrote these letters. To strengthen the churches, Those who were down and out and under persecution and waning in numbers. Don't grow weary of good doing. Go. Work harder. Dig deeper. You who tarry, Psalm 134. You who labor in the temple. You who labor in the church. Don't stop. Continue on. Continue to fight the good fight and remember to run that race until its completion. Philippians 2, he that's begun a good work within you will complete it at the day of Christ. So he that started a good work within you, whether that was 10 years ago, 5 minutes ago, or 35 years ago, or even longer, will continue it until Jesus comes back. Or you see him first. So let us go under the power of the gospel and take this good news Because they don't have any good news. If all is in flux, they have no good news. They have nothing to live for. I guess we're all just going to kind of poof up into the force. If that's what they believe. If that's true, I'm going to learn how to play golf. Or I'm going to go fishing. But we have the truth. There is a life hereafter, and there is a God who is, who has spoken, and He is there. and He will remove your sin. That's the good news. He died for us. Now we thus must live for Him. Let's pray. Our Lord and our God, we love You. And we bow ourselves before You humbly and thank You for the time that You've given us, Lord. We do thank You for the rain of the past week. We've needed it greatly. And we thank You that You do pour out Your grace and that the rain and the sunshine both good showing of your grace. And we thank you most of all for Jesus and for the word that changes us and changes our hearts. And I do pray that we will be able to go out tomorrow and even today and shine the light of Christ and be salt shakers in a dying world. Lord, forgive us for we fail you. And I do pray that you will shine upon this church and that you will bring someone that can preach the word and that will be faithful and the man that You have chosen for it, Lord. We just thank You for the time that is here. We thank You for the worship hour and that we have been able to come together and join with the saints. There's not just a few people here. You are here. Where the two or three are gathered in Your name, You're among us. And we praise You. We honor You. We give You the glory. And we bless Your holy name, Lord. And we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.